my new 220 gallon reef tank

[knox_rbp]

ok so I got the tank set up, water mixed, lights hung and now I wait.....
I was looking for any ideas or suggestions on stocking and filtration. it currently has a pro rapids (not sure if it's 3 or 4) on it but it only does 1,000 gph. the lighting is outer orbit model 1079 72 inch 3 x 250w 10k HQI-MH with 8 x 3w T5 HO and 24 lunar lights. It would be a shame to not do a reef with that lighting.lol. Also what is the best hour range to set the lighting timers? hee's a pic but it's not much to look at right now. Thanks, J

 

[Myteemouse]

loose the hob filter
Add about 200 lbs of live rock (*all the filtration you'll need except a GOOD skimmer..)
timer actincs one for 10-12 hours
MH's on for 6-8 hours!
moonlights on 2-3 hours before Actinics
for instance Moonlights on 10 am
Actinics on 12 pm (moonlights off 12:10 pm)
MH on 2 pm
MH off 8 pm
Actincs off 10pm (moonlights on 9:50 pm)
moon lights off 12 am.

 

[bansheenoy]

im jelouse on the size. u can put a bamboo shark in. tangs angels anything reef safe. im just a shark guy so i had to throw it out there. definatily a nice light again im jelouse. but are you going to get deep in the corals or go for more of a fish type of tank. u should talk to your lfs for some advice on corals. basically the easiest to keep zonathids, little mushrooms, anenomies. if u were getting big with corals id go with a metal halided light. it grows corals at a fast rate. but good thing is u can sell off frags and stuff if they out grow and make money back. the hardest part is going to b waiting trust me.

 

[mr.reef24]

200lbs live rock, canister filter FX5 from fluval, better powerheads, lighiting 12 hours on 12 hours off and more flow

mr.reef24

 

[knox_rbp]

Thanks for the input. The hob is just on there to clear out some of the "stuff" that came out of the sand, that's why I didnt mention it. The lights have 3 250w metal halides so I'[m set on that. the setup came with 10+ different powerheads, I just had those in there to help with filtering out the "stuff" in the sand.

It came with about 200 lbs of live sand but no rock unfortunately. Would 200 lbs or rock be enough or should I go with more. Just my little 35 hex has over 80lbs in it.

The over flow has a built in protien skimmer but I have no idea on how well it works. Anyonehave past experience with the rapids filters before? I do have a coralife skimmer that's rated to 125g tank. should I throw it on there also?

oh and did I mention I paid $700 for the setup. thank you craigslist.lol

 

[studd muffin]

pretty cool cant wait to see it finished

 

[S220G]

really nice tank you should get yourself some good overflows since it doesn't look to be drilled and at least a 40 gallon sump in order to hold the water when not returning into the tank (power outage ect.) then the best skimmer you can find in your price range, I like the reef octopus and SWC, but alot of people say that the coralife super skimmer is good and if you go that route you don't even need to go the external skimmer and sump route. you really don't even need to be skimming until you get the tank running with livestock just let the water and rocks settle in first. as for rock you should put at least 200 lbs of l.r. in but if for looks its not apealing you can use base rock usually about half the price of live rock but the more live rock the better. other thing that need to be considered are return pumps, external filter (i recommend fx5 especially if you are not going to have a sump), refugium (if you use overflows it is pretty easy to incorporate a gravity fed fuge no pump needed maybe you can even pre skim the fuge with your rapids overflow), auto top off, and your lights look sweet to grow what ever you want just consider flow and light penetration (in general higher kelvin shorter wavelength deeper penetration but normally less growth) in what corals you choose to keep. good luck and keep us updated any stocking ideas.

 

[L!$A]

Nice size of tank.. can't wait to see the final results!

 

[RyanP]

nice tank, how old are the bulbs? It looks awfully yellow for MH

 

[knox_rbp]

Update: I have tapped off of the over flow and added a 35 gallon tank with a dsb. I'm using the spare pump that came with my pro rapids to pump the water into the shell of a emperor hob filter as a return. I also have my heaters and coralife skimmer (rated to 125g) in this tank. I will soon be adding a 10 or 20 gallon refugium to the setup. also 3 maxijet 600 powerheads until i find some better ones. I currently have approx. 100 lbs mix of live and base rock. 2 clowns, 1 blue damsel, 1 3 stripe damsel, 1 scooter blenny, 1 pencil urchin, 1 condy anemone, 1 blue starfish, 2 sand sifting cucumbers, 2 brittle stars and various snails. Corals include several xenia, green button polyps and other I can't remember the names of at the moment. Here are a few pics, sorry about the quality. only the 1 MH light to the right is on in the pics